Displaying 1 - 20 of 30
I am honored with your Letter upon the subject of your application for a supply of provisions for the use of His Majestys Squadron under your Command, and as there appears to have been a misapprehension of some parts of the Conversation that passed between us upon this business I must beg leave to repeat to you what I then said, and nearly I believe in the same words, That I understood from Genl...
Date: 10 May 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I must beg leave to make it my request to you that some Vessel of sufficient force may be sent to Virginia & New York with some dispatches of Consequence from me to The Commander in Chief
If you should think it necessary to send a Frigate and it may be difficult to get out with this Wind, I submit it to you Sir Whether one of the Cruizers may not be directed to proceed upon this Service, and...
Date: 12 May 1776
Volume: Volume 5
In my last letter of the 29th of April by the General Gage Sloop I had the Honor to acquaint Your Excellency that a few of the Transports had got into this River. ー and I am now to inform you of the Arrival of the greatest part of them with Lord [Charles] Cornwallis & Sir Peter Parker, who joined us on the 3d of this month ー Two more of the Transports are since arrived, and there are now...
Date: 18 May 1776
Volume: Volume 5
Time presses. As the Wind is fair I submit to You, Sir, Whether it would not be right to go to Sea immediately, Each Transport having Sealed Orders to proceed to, or Rendezvous at Bull's Bay.
Commmodore's
Answer.
Verbal.
That he was afraid the Masters would not go over the Bar without Pilots.
My opinion, That they should be indemnified, and offered to do it. We sailed. All safe. I...
Date: 30 May 1776
Volume: Volume 5
On the 18th of April the first Transport of the Irish Fleet joined me; and they continued to drop in every day after this by single Ships to the 3d of May, when Commodore Sir Peter Parker with the Bulk of his Fleet at last made his appearance. It seems he did not leave Cork before the 13th of february ー and the Reasons for this extraordinary delay he can best explain; but Sir Wm Howe was assured...
Date: 31 May 1776
Volume: Volume 5
These Sea worthies plague me to death upon a Subject I must not pretend to understand ー I have proposed that Your Lordships Ship, Your humble Servants, & such light Transports as can go in should proceed immadiately to Bull's Bay, which place for many reasons I prefer ー our only [reason] I shall trouble you with, which is the proximity of that place to the Continent from whence alone I can...
Date: 1 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
When we agreed to make our attempt on Sullivan's Island, it seemed to be our intentions first to consider the object and probability of Success on the Spot; as no information had been obtained that could make it adviseable without ー in this Attack I ever understood the Navy were to bear a considerable part, but by your late arrangement you have marked out for them little more than reducing any...
Date: 2 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
When You did me the Honor to call on board the Sovereign Yesterday You will be pleased to recollect That I then proposed to You that the Ranger & St Lawrance Schooner might be sent over the Bar of Spencer's Inlet for the purpose you now mention, and as it is my intention (which I likewise communicated to you Yesterday) to take possession of the North End of Long Island, I could rather wish...
Date: 5 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I am to acknowledge the receipt of Your Letter of the 5th Inst: and am glad to find that we now seem to be agreed upon every measure that is necessary to be taken previous to the Fleet's getting into safety within the Bar, where, I am clearly of Opinion, they will not be Molested from part of the Shore between Cummins's Point and the Light House, ー and I have always understood that between those...
Date: 6 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I approve much of Your proposal that an Engineer shou'd go in the Solebay, and for that purpose send Mr Moncrief.
I think it necessary that a Proclamation shou'd preceed Hostilities, I think it the more so as it will give us an opportunity of squinting at Sulivan's Island, I should therefore propose that as soon as the leading Frigate gets to her station off Cummins's point that a Boat be sent on...
Date: 6 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
A Proclamation
Whereas a most unprovoked and wicked Rebellion hath for some Time past prevailed and doth now exist, within his Majesty's Province of South-Carolina; and the Inhabitants thereof, forgetting their Allegiance to their Sovereign, and denying the Authority of the Laws and Statutes of the Realm, have, in a Succession of Crimes, proceeded to the total Subversion of all legal Authority;...
Date: 6 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
As 'tis possible that bad weather may prevent our personal communication I beg leave to propose for your consideration that the following Signals may be settled between us on the occasion of the intended attack of Sullivans Island.
I would first make it my request that on the morning you mean to make your attack (every circumstance of Wind Weather & tide favoring) ー you will be so good to fix...
Date: 13 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
But hard Gales and contrary Winds pre:vented our passing the Bar before the 7th of June, when the Frigates and great Part of the Transports got over into five fathom Hole, leaving the Commodores & a few other heavy Ships without. I had now an opportunity of reconnoitring the Islands to the Northward of Charles Town, & immediately embarked in a small Sloop for that purpose. It took me two...
Date: 16 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
As there is no ford, there is no possibility that the Troops should take the share which we flattered ourselves they would; in this opinion all the Generals concur with me, therefore as the Troops can only now land en detaille, it becomes absolutely necessary that the Fleet should begin their operations ー If therefore the Commodore giving us the longest notice he can will open the Attack, we will...
Date: 18 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I am first to request that You will explain the Inclosed Plan to the Commodore; our first must drop for reasons obvious, and am now reduced to this only One; as a part of it I shall probably make some little Demonstrations towards Mount Pleasant by which I hope to favor both the Commodore & our own Attack. ー time is precious, I heartily wish our business was done, and we on our Way to the...
Date: 18 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I am honored with Your Letter of the 20th by Lieut. [Charles] Hope, expressing Your readiness to begin the attack on Sullivan's Island on the 21st at 12 o'Clock or put it off, if I should not be prepared, till the day following. ー
I am told by the Officers of the Navy that the Wind is not now fair, nor any great probability of its being so suddenly ー This circumstance and my receiving your Letter...
Date: 21 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I am to acknowledge the receipt of yours of this date by Lieut. Caulfield, and am sorry to find that Wind & Weather has not been favorable for the intended attack of the Fleet this day ー I can only repeat to you Sir! That whenever circumstances shall concur to make that attack practicable, I shall do my utmost to cause a diversion and to Co-operate with you.
I once more most heartily wish you...
Date: 23 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
I am to apologize for not sending a written answer to the Honor of your Letter of yesterdays date by Lieutenant Caulfield, which did not reach my hands till very late in the evening, and being destitute of almost every convenience, I was unwilling to detain that Gentleman and from this circumstance, was under the necessity of troubling him with a verbal message to you ー
I have received no...
Date: 26 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
The first object of our attention after landing [on Long Island] was to ascertain the Situation and depth of the Ford. But to our unspeakable mortification & disappointment we discovered that the Passage across the Channel which separates the two Islands was no where shallower at low water than seven feet instead of 18 Inches, which was the depth reported. This of course rendered it...
Date: 27 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5
This long menaced Attack took place at last on the 28th of June About eleven o'clock in the morning we saw the Active, Bristol, Experiment, Solebay, and three other Frigates, moving towards the Fort on Sullivans Island (in the order in which they are here placed), but no Signal whatsoever as agreed on to prepare the Troops.2 Every thing was however got in readiness on our side for the...
Date: 28 June 1776
Volume: Volume 5